The Media Leader Podcast

Google's EMEA president Matt Brittin spoke to Omar Oakes at the recent Cannes Lions advertising festival to discuss how the online advertising and media behemoth is approaching AI and how it's being discussed with advertisers, publishers and media agencies. Plus: ever wondered what it takes to become a senior exec at a massive tech company? Brittin's background and career journey may surprise you.The Media Leader Podcast's production partner is Trisonic.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

DEI, EDI, D&I – no matter the acronym you use, it is undeniable that conversations around equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion have been increasing across the board in recent years.But how does talk translate to action within the media industry? Shez Iqbal is a mentor at Media For All and head of publisher partnerships at Criteo. He joins the podcast alongside host Ella Sagar and guest Jack Benjamin to chat through the nitty gritty of diversity, equality, equity and inclusion in leadership in media and advertising.Iqbal is also a host of his very own podcast, 'Leadership in Colour', which showcases outstanding leaders of colour sharing their personal journeys, offering valuable insights and advice, and highlighting their current projects.“I think that coaching is something that should be available for everybody," said Iqbal. "We definitely have an issue—and the All In Census definitely showed it—we’ve got an issue within the industry where people might come in at certain levels and hit at maybe the middle-management and then leave. But I do feel like with the support of coaching, actually we can let them or allow them to have a better plan and route to the top.”---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Listen to Shez Iqbal's 'Leadership in Colour' podcast here, or wherever else you get your podcasts.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

Host Jack Benjamin is joined by editor Omar Oakes and reporter Ella Sagar to discuss the latest news around the media industry.Key headlines covered this week: Twitter is being rebranded as X; 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' both had exceptional opening weekend box office performance thanks in part to impressive marketing campaigns; Hollywood remains on strike with no end in sight; earnings season is upon us; and NME is relaunching its print edition.---The Media Leader Podcast's production partner is Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

One of the key questions we are always asking industry experts, be it in our reporting or at our conferences, is what makes for effective media? Is it all about excellent creative? Is it about perfect placement? Or is it, in the words of Succession character Kendall Roy, all simply about harvesting eyeballs?Mike Follett, managing director at Lumen Research and a regular columnist for The Media Leader, is back on the podcast to discuss the key factors that make media effective, and where attention fits within the conversation. He is joined by The Media Leader editor Omar Oakes and reporter and host Jack Benjamin.On the broad topic of effectiveness, Follett said the industry needs to admit what it does and doesn't know about the way media and advertising works.“We assume that we know absolutely how these things work, and we have some numbers to back us up here," he said. "But in all honestly, we don’t. That’s the real truth. We don’t have the complete picture of how this stuff works. And I think admitting that is the smart thing to do, and pretending that we do have a 100% picture of the world, that’s crazy.”---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

Taboola has built a multibillion-dollar business by making it easy for publishers to recommend content to other parts of the web in exchange for a fee. Now, as thoughts about generative AI dominate conversations in media, the company has just launched Taboola Generative AI which aims to "revolutionise" how publishers create personalised ads.CEO Adam Singolda spoke to Omar Oakes about the company's beta test of this AI tech, which began in February and has just been rolled out formally to all English-speaking Taboola partners. Singolda and Oakes spoke during Cannes Lions in June, so the pair also chatted about goings-on at the Croisette.In addition, Singolda has some frank advice for anyone who wants to start their own business.This is a bonus episode, distinct from our usual Thursday show. We're generous like that.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

What does the future of digital publishing, and in particular, digital news publishing, look like? Raymond Snoddy, the former presenter of BBC News Channel’s NewsWatch and a longtime columnist for The Media Leader, and Richard Reeves, MD of the Association of Online Publishers, join the podcast to discuss.Digital publishing has been in a near-constant state of development and transition since it began supplanting traditional press two decades ago. But with the recent dissolution of BuzzFeed News, the bankruptcy and sale of Vice Media, and ever-quickening developments in generative artificial intelligence, today’s digital publishing leaders perhaps have their hands full now more than they ever have.In a wide-ranging conversation, the pair spoke to Jack Benjamin talked about publishers' progress in defending their intellectual property from "scrupulous" tech vendors and large language AI models, the challenge of making hard news appealing to young people, and the importance of consumers' trust in news.On the increasing popularity of comedic news content on short-form video platforms, Snoddy said: "The only hope for legitimate news and ultimately the survival of legitimate democracies is to keep focusing on trust, accuracy, meaning, explanation... if the world is totally dominated by the funnies, we’re all in a very serious position indeed.”---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

“You’ve got to do a different job on pricing.”That is the core theme of the new book Madison Avenue Makeover, according to its author Michael Farmer.Farmer, a former consultant, is also the author of Madison Avenue Manslaughter, which the Financial Times called a “damning critique of the modern advertising industry”.His latest book, a sequel, addresses attempts by Huge CEO Mat Baxter to transform the IPG agency and restore its dynamism. But as reporter Ahmed Elkady writes in his review, the raison d’etre of Madison Avenue Makeover is to serve as the industry’s guide for what another paradigm of agency relationships could look like.Farmer previously spoke to editor Omar Oakes in a 2022 interview in which he discussed whether the industry had made progress since Manslaughter‘s release in 2015. Now, in a new interview with The Media Leader, the strategy consultant returns to explore the themes and key takeaways of his sequel.Elkady sat down with Farmer to speak in detail about its development and key lessons for the industry. A partial transcript of the conversation has previously been published, and now you can listen to the audio in full.---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

Media industry professionals have been in something of a crisis.Declining mental health, uncertainty over hybrid work policies, slow-moving DE&I policies, and still-large disparities between men and women in career progression and pay. These issues are not necessarily unique to media, and there have been improvements made over time in many areas, but there is doubtless more our industry could be doing to improve the lives of its workers.So, how should we unpack all of these challenges? Columnist and Creativebrief editorial director Nicola Kemp returns to the podcast to discuss, alongside reporter Ella Sagar.“The Covid pandemic has created a toxic storm of stress," said Kemp. "And I think that is really having a huge impact on the workplace right now. We might have stopped writing those headlines on the Great Resignation and moved on to the Great Regret, but the reality is a lot of people are still planning to leave the roles they’re in in the next 12 months.”---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderTwitter: @TheMediaLeader YouTube:  The Media Leader

Future's new CEO Jon Steinberg is keen to build things.In his career he has helped create two new media start-ups in BuzzFeed and Cheddar, but in his new role as CEO of Future, he has taken charge of numerous media properties continuing to transition from print to digital.Steinberg joins the podcast in an interview with editor Omar Oakes. The pair discuss changes Steinberg is bringing to Future, the value of attending Cannes Lions, the state of the digital publishing industry, and how developments in generative AI will change editorial processes.“Digital subscriptions is a huge opportunity for us," said Steinberg. "This will be a long process, building a digital subscription business. As you’ve seen with The New York Times, or The Washington Post, it’s not something that happens overnight, and that’s one of my long-term goals.”---This episode was edited by our production partner Trisonic.Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn - The Media LeaderTwitter @TheMediaLeader YouTube - The Media Leader

Why are media and creative so siloed?That was the question implicitly posed by our editor Omar Oakes in his latest column. Referencing industry veteran Laurence's Green's speech at a recent Thinkbox conference, Oakes questioned Cannes' reason for appearing separately as both a celebration of creativity and as a tech and media industry conference.Oakes and Green both joined Jack Benjamin on The Media Leader Podcast to unpack the argument. In a wide-ranging conversation, the trio also spoke about the importance of creative in driving effectiveness, the industry's struggles to promote sustainability and pessimistic trends in digital news consumption unveiled by this week's release of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report."The mood music in the industry is firstly, can we just have that richer mix of work," said Green. "Yes, reward the purpose stuff, but find a way to the great stuff that pays the mortgage. But also, can we just make sure that we're not using our creative skills to greenwash rather than using our creative skills to more profoundly change business. Those are the things that are in the ether around Cannes this year."The episode kicks off a new panel format for the podcast, which includes a 'quick hits' section covering recent stories from the around the industry.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn - The Media LeaderTwitter @TheMediaLeader YouTube - The Media Leader